Junior Open Wheel Talent

The checkered flag just flew in Florida to end the first official test for Firestone Indy Lights competitors. I don’t have a whole lot to write on this, but I will say I’m fairly surprised by the results. Some of the veteran’s seemed to really struggle in the time charts and chose to run only a few laps, while some of the rookies really stood out.

Ali Jackson, running for Guthrie-Meyer Racing, was perhaps the most impressive; turning a 28.5138 second lap, just .0362 seconds off Pippa Mann’s fast time. So why is that impressive?… Ali only turned 70 laps in contrast to Pippa’s 144 laps. The only drivers to run less than 70 laps were Daniel Herrington and Jay Howard.

A couple more notes below:

Pippa Mann was impressive once again topping the time charts with a fast lap of 28.4776. The fact that she was able to top the charts on both days of the two-day test says a lot about her confidence and Panther Racing. Not many out there would have picked her to top the charts…myself included; given her lack of oval experience. It will be interesting to see how she performs in race conditions.

Rookie drivers claimed 8 out of the top 10 spots…granted, they also ran a full day yesterday, while the veteran’s did not. Not to mention the fact that rookies made up 63% of the field in the two day test. Still, it was a bit surprising to not see some of last year’s stand-outs top the charts.

In regards to lap times, it’s not a huge surprise to see several drivers spread out and running the session somewhat conservatively. Nobody wants to wreck their car in their first pre-season test.

Martin Plowman ran the most laps in his Panther Racing entry….logging 190 circles. Something tells me, he didn’t like lapping slower than his teammate.